Statehouse Insider: Unions back Dillard, but will it mean votes?

Sen. KIRK DILLARD last week completed the trifecta of public employee union endorsements in his bid to win the Republican nomination for governor.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees added its endorsement to those Dillard previously won from the Illinois Education Association and the Illinois Federation of Teachers. With the endorsements should come money, which anyone running against multi-millionaire BRUCE RAUNER is going to need.

The question is how much the endorsements will do for Dillard when the votes are cast.

Everyone knows that turnout in primary elections is sparse. Those most likely to vote are the committed party faithful. Among Republicans, that often means more conservative members of the party, which explains why you often see GOP candidates tacking to the right in the run-up to a primary.

You have to figure that the more conservative wing of the Republican Party will be more receptive to Rauner’s position that public employee unions, or at least their leaders, have been bad for the state and are the cause of many of the state’s problems. So if those are the people more likely to vote in a primary election, it may not do Dillard all that much good to pick up endorsements from public employee unions.

* Lawmakers are taking the next few days off from their rigorous schedule. They won’t be back in Springfield until March 19, the day after the primary election.

That’s also the day of the Sullivan Caucus, an Irish-themed party put on annually by lawmakers and lobbyists named Sullivan. The legislative schedule means this year’s get-together falls after St. Patrick’s Day.

* Some lawmakers last week got to hear the case of CHLOE STIRLING from Stirling herself when she testified in front of a House committee.

In case you’ve missed it, Stirling is an enterprising 11-year-old from Troy who set out to earn some money to eventually buy a car by baking cupcakes. She apparently is quite good at it. Some news accounts reported she was making $200 a month from her business, which was run out of her home.

A story like that is a nice human interest thing that attracts the news media. Chloe’s did, the story appeared, and that drew the attention of the Madison County Health Department. And that was the end, so far, of Chloe’s business.

The health department said regulations require that the cupcake business be run out of something other than the family kitchen. Her parents had the option of building a separate kitchen or buying a bakery like any other family. Or Chloe could switch careers.

Stuff like this — government bureaucrats picking on a kid — is red meat to Republicans, and sure enough, a bill was introduced that allows the sale of some homemade baked goods without health department oversight. It passed a House committee last week, but there’s more work ahead for it.

Here’s the problem for lawmakers. Chloe is a great story, and there’s a lot of sympathy for her. She appears to be very responsible in the way she handles her business. No illnesses have been traced to her cupcakes.

But you can’t pass a law that exempts just Chloe from health regulations. The law has to exempt everyone in identical circumstances, and that would include people who aren’t as conscientious as an 11-year-old.

“It’s not about her, it’s about all the others,” said Rep. LA SHAWN FORD, D-Chicago.

So the committee will continue to work on finding the right balance between onerous regulation and a complete free-for-all.

By the way, Chloe got one more taste of government regulation. She brought some of her homemade cupcakes to the hearing to give to lawmakers. Only after arriving did she learn that House rules prohibit food in the committee room.